A FOX executive, who asked not to be identified, explained the decision thusly: "Well, this morning while we were eating our gold dust-iced donuts and drinking our hand-ground artisan coffee, we started debating whether to make the movie PG-13 or R. Ryan [Reynolds] was in the room, and he's been advocating for an R film since the beginning; but he's just an actor and a Deadpool fan, so I mean, what does he know? Anyway, the debate got heated, and then it turned into a wrestling match on the conference table, and then before we knew it there was an all-out punch fest going on, because, I mean, Ryan gets very worked up about these things. And blood was flying everywhere, and it got on my new silk tie, and basically at that point I just had to put my foot down and tell everyone that if they couldn't play nice, they couldn't have nice things. So we're cancelling the Deadpool movie. People are too invested. And if my execs and actors are so invested, I can't even imagine what the fans will be like. I mean, we can't have FOX on the hook for riots in the street and stuff if we don't give them what they want. You saw how mad they were about our first Deadpool SNAFU. We can't risk another."

When asked if he didn't think fans would be more upset by cancellation of the movie, which had already been stuck in development hell for an incomprehensibly long time before being greenlit, the executive replied, "Huh. I hadn't really thought of that. I guess they'll get over it. I mean, they got over that Firefly thing eventually, right? ...Or did they? Oh well. Too late now. We already allocated the remaining Deadpool budget to Alvin and the Chipmunks 4."

After hearing this immensely depressing news, I reached out to Deadpool screenwriters Rhett Reese and Paul Wernick for comment. Reese returned my call. "We tried so hard to get the movie made!" he said, sniffling a little into the phone. "I can’t believe it’s not going to happen. February 12, 2016 will feel so empty now. But I’m on Ryan's side here. If you're going to do Deadpool, you have to either go hard [R] or go home." Reese then excused himself to go work on his current screenplay, which, he informed me, features zombies attacking a film studio and its head executives.

I also reached out to the Deadpool star himself, Ryan Reynolds. He agreed to a Skype video interview; which revealed that the usually dapper Reynolds was taking the cancellation news very hard; at least if his unshaven, unwashed, bathrobe-clad appearance was anything to go by. (Also, he was eating cookie dough ice cream straight out of the carton and looked suspiciously red around the eyes.) Reynolds appeared slightly unfocused and fairly distraught as I asked him how he was bearing up under the news.

“I’m trying to be positive,” he said, a stray tear running down his cheek and plopping into the ice cream. “We got so close to having a great canon Deadpool movie. So maybe that will happen again before I’m too old to play him. It could happen, right? Right??”

I agreed that it is always good to keep hope alive, but inquired as to what his plans might be now that he’s not slated to be the Merc with a Mouth anytime soon. “Well, I always like doing comic bookmovies and playingsuperheroes,” he said, “so I’ve auditioned for the newest Marvel movie; the Great Lakes Avengers film! You know, you wouldn’t think the GLA would be a top choice for a movie, given they’re not really stars of the Marvel universe; but then again, neither were the Guardians of the Galaxy, and look how that turned out! Plus,” he confided, “I think maybe Marvel is running out of characters to add to their movie schedule. Anyway, I’m super excited! Marvel wanted me to audition for Flatman, I guess because I look kind of like him, but I wanted to work outside the box on this one, so I opted for Squirrel Girl. I hope I get the part! She’s so badass. Plus, she gets to play with squirrels, and those little critters are just adorable.”

...Squirrel Girl? Hrm. I’m a great supporter of Reynolds’ work; but I think the announcement that the Deadpool movie has been cancelled may have sent him over the edge. Still, at least auditions will get him away from the ice cream and out of the house. Now if only I and the multitudes of other disappointed fans could figure out something that would do the same for us. I guess...I guess I’ll go off to work and try to live my life like a normal, non-sad-nerd person, huh? Yeah...that.

Just, please, nobody tell me any more bad news today, okay? I don’t think I can handle it right now. Even if it’s just a joke.

You know when you get a new electronic toy, and you just want to explore all of its features, and sometimes you get carried away? Well, that's what happened with me and my new DVR cable box. Which is how I ended up setting it to record a whole bunch of sort of random stuff just on a whim because it was there.

You know how sometimes you drink wine after a long day at work? Well, that happened too. Which is how I ended up watching A Knight's Tale on DVR last night... And livetweeting it.

And it was fun, and Twitter was good-natured enough to play along, and at least one person was sad to have missed it:

RT @SusanneWhite: One of those times I am sad about the time difference. I have woken to the amazing @foresthouse livetweeting A Knight's Tale.

@foresthouse: Yes, thanks to a combination of spontaneous wine and DVR, I did in fact #livetweet #AKnightsTale last night. And it was glorious? Maybe? :P

RT @ghostwritingcow: @foresthouse Definitely.

So as a public service for those of you who might have missed it, here is the livetweet in all its glory. Enjoy?

A Livefeed In One Act; Or, I May Regret This Tomorrow:

@foresthouse: A Knight's Tale is the most anachronistic movie in the entire universe.

Tonight I babysat for my adorable 3-year-old nephew Benji while my sister went to a work event. He was very good! We read 3 books, and ate dinner (mostly) neatly and without major mishap ("I dropped a piece of pasta on the floor but if it goes on the floor that's okay because we can clean it up, Auntie Em!" he said, repeating what I'd told him 5 minutes before). He's a very sharp little kid and gets more personality every time I see him. One of the books we read was from my & my sister's childhood, about the Fisher Price "Woodsey" family toys. The books were sold with little log or birch-tree looking houses made of cloth and plastic, with plastic furniture and the actual Woodsey characters (the main family being squirrels) to go along with them. You can move their little puppet arms with your fingers, and when you squeeze them they squeak. They're pretty cute. :) My parents gave Benji the two houses and the animals we had, along with 3 books, a while ago. Reading these particular books with Benji is hilarious, because Benji re-named the main characters after our family, so when you read them, you have to read them with the "proper" names (e.g. Milkweed the little squirrel boy becomes Benji). The best part of this is that since there's no aunt character in the book, I got named after the bluebird who delivers the mail. Amanda brought the bluebird book along with Benji's toys today; so I read a whole book about "Auntie Em" delivering mail to allllll the Woodseys. Hee.

We also played "catch" with balloons my sister had brought along, and watched my Mood Beam change colors in the dark. Entertaining Benji is pretty fun. :P

We also watched Izzy a lot. Benji is very enamored of Izzy. Last weekend at my parents' house I showed him a couple of videos and pictures of Izzy, so he really wanted to meet her. ("Mommy, we call her Izzy even though her name is Ysabell, because she's also Izzy like I'm Benjamin but also Benji. And Izzy isn't a boy. Izzy is a girl!" he proudly proclaimed to my sister after I explained this to him.) Even though Izzy was sleeping at first, I caved in to the little boy cuteness and took her out for Benji to see right away, and showed him how to pet her *very gently*. He was good at that (and slightly scared of her climbing on him even though he liked her a lot). At first he was very concerned that maybe she would bite him (or poop on him). I explained that she doesn't usually bite, but she might scratch her teeth on you a little, "tch tch tch" if she wants to get down. I explained this with a hand motion to show him what it would feel like, and then for the rest of the night on and off he would say, "And if she wants to get down, she will go 'tch tch tch'" while doing the accompanying hand motion. Haaaaa. Later when Izzy was more awake we put her in the ball and he had a great time watching her run all around. Amanda hadn't seen that before, so when she got back and Izzy was running around she laughed and laughed because it's so cute, and couldn't resist following Izzy around to move her when she (inevitably) got stuck somewhere. ("She's so tiny!" "I told you!") Hee. When it was time for them to leave, Benji gave me hugs and kisses and said, "I love you, Auntie Em!" That kid. <3

Speaking of Izzy, she really does get stuck a lot, and she looks SO SAD when she can't get the ball to move. I got a great picture of this, and couldn't resist making this macro:

HAAAAA.

I took a hilarious video of Izzy being stuck after Amanda and Benji left. In the ball she can get over small bumps in the floor (like between the living room and the kitchen) if she gets momentum. But she's so small that if she doesn't have space to run up to things, she gets stuck.

Heeeeee. I wanted to keep filming her adorableness, but I also felt bad for the poor wee stuck hamster, so I helped her out.

If you liked that video, by the way, there are several more here, and trust me, if you haven't seen the one where she eats a seed, you really should. IT'S SO CUTE.

...I love my hamster ridiculous much.

In other things I've been up to lately, my column over at ComicMix is still going strong - every Tuesday at 1 a new one goes up. So far I've covered the Avengers fragrances, a new comics marketing campaign I was unimpressed by, why Cable & Deadpool is a great buddy comic, a few thoughts about getting started in the comics industry, what I don't like about the way the comics industry markets to women, and why collaborations in comics are fun. This week's column is a review of Splitsville, a great indie comic by Ben Fisher and Kevin Stokes. It comes out at HeroesCon June 22, and y'all should definitely check it out. And next week, DEADPOOL is stopping by to answer questions - so if you leave one in the comments of the Splitsville review, you might hear from Deadpool personally next week. :P

Speaking of ComicMix, any comics subjects you'd particularly like to hear my thoughts on? I have plenty of column ideas already, but if anyone has a topic they'd really like me to write about, let me know!

Switching topics completely, another thing that's happened recently is that I GOT NEW CONTACTS. They are very scary looking GIANT hard contacts called scleral lenses, but aside from being a bit hard to put in, they are AWESOME (!!!!!). The way they work is that they sit on the white part of your eye instead of the cornea, and they have a "reservoir" in the middle which provides space for preservative-free eyedrops. Because of these things: a) I no longer get the unpredictable stabbing eye pain caused by the edges of the (smaller) lenses hitting my irregularly shaped corneas (the irregular shape being from the keratoconus). This used to happen to me at random times several times a day. No more!! b) I no longer have to use eyedrops at alllll hours of the day (I used to freak if I didn't have eyedrops with me because my eyes could get randomly, painfully or cloudily dry AT ANY MOMENT. Now, I use eyedrops MAYBE once or twice a day if I'm wearing the contacts a long time, but can survive without them if needed.) c) My vision is so much better. Seriously, y'all, I haven't seen this well in maybe 2-3 YEARS. YEARS. I CAN READ THINGS FROM VERY FAR AWAY. STUFF IS NOT BLURRY. STUFF IS SHARP. OMG.

I cannot fathom why nobody recommended these to me sooner, except that they aren't as commonly known or used; but for keratoconus sufferers, they are GREAT.

They *are* rather costly to use and tricky to put in, though. When you put them in, you have to fill each with special preservative free eye drops. These drops cost about $25 for 70 little individual packages that look like this:

One package = enough for one contact. About 35 cents per eye. Kind of pricey but not terrible. BUT the catch is, if you mess up while putting one in, you have to open another little package and re-fill the contact, because it has to be completely full when you put it in. I'm getting pretty good at putting them in (1-5 tries per eye, usually) but a few days ago it took me EIGHTEEN tries to put in just one contact. That's...six dollars and 43 cents to put in a contact. *siiiigh* But like I said, I'm getting better at it, and also: I DON'T CARE I CAN SEEEEEEE.

Anyway, to put the contact in, you put it on this crazy looking suction cup plunger thing, fill it with the drops, and then, while looking straight down at yourself in a mirror (i.e. face parallel to the floor/flat mirror), attempt to put the contact on the center of your eye without spilling any drops and then squeeze the little plunger to pop it off into your eye. (AIEE!) If you DO spill a bit, and you end up with an air bubble? You have to use a completely different little plunger to remove it, and start all over again. (This is why it gets expensive.) But hey: VISION.

Another benefit of these new contacts (along with providing me with new stories to completely squick cleolinda out) is that I can now, FINALLY, see well enough to do the fine detail needed for the tiny clay things I promised people who bought them from the "Foresthouse Eye Auction" and who won them on Twitter way back when. I have a lot to catch up on, but I started a couple of weekends ago, and made these:

(from this image reference)

and

I'm pretty pleased with how they turned out.

Aaaand in my last bit of news, I've finally joined Pinterest. Here I am! I don't post all the time, but I did go through and try to upload a lot of my craft pictures, so I have some jewelry up, and some clay, and some sewing stuff, and some paintings/drawings. So, you know, if that stuff interests you, check it out! And add me! I don't have too many people I'm following on there yet.

Whew! So. That's what I've been up to. And now: BED. Good night, world!

You guys (if any of you still read this?!) I am so terrible. I keep writing the beginnings of LJ entries, meaning to post things, running out of time, losing my notes about something I wanted to write, getting distracted by other things, not finishing drafts of posts, and...geez, I just haven't posted SO MANY things I've wanted to lately. Gah.

On the other hand, one reason I haven't posted here is that I've been writing some for other sites recently. So even though I'm totally planning to post more here VERY SOON, in the meantime if anyone wants to, I'd love for people to check out some of the things I've had up recently at other sites. I've had a lot of fun writing these!

First up, I was invited to do a guest post on the Tonner Doll Company blog (they make great Marvel and DC dolls, as well as other movie dolls and their own fashion dolls). Naturally I wrote about DEADPOOOOOOL. You can read it at the link:

Also for anyone who doesn't know, over the last couple of years artist Marc Vuletich and I have done a series of webcomics, the majority of which have been featured on movie and TV news site Reelzchannel.com (along with a couple of articles I wrote). If anyone feels like catching up on those comics or checking them out, they're all conveniently linked at my Ask Deadpool Wordpress blog.

Following on that, our most recent two webcomics, part of a three-part series about the Marvel Avengers movie that comes out next weekend, have just been featured on MTV Splash Page! Here are links to the first two, and the final part will be coming out on Splash Page this Wednesday. WOO! Please check 'em out!

And please leave comments and things if you enjoy these posts, so the editors know you've enjoyed them and let me WRITE MOAR THINGS for them. :)

Finally, in writing things, beginning this week I will have a weekly column over on ComicMix, discussing comics and comics-related things. This is slated to go up every Tuesday at 1 p.m., so please check those out! This week I'll be chatting about a few different things, and next week will feature a review of the Avengers colognes and perfume from JADS International (tested on a Genuine Comic Book Artist!). I have lots of fun ideas for future columns over there, so if you like comics, please read!

At the National Press Club, we do one or more book events per month, where an author with a new book out will come and talk, answer questions, and sign books that are purchased there from Barnes & Noble, and that raise a bit of money per book for the non-profit journalism library. Lately there's been some discussion regarding how to adjust this event model to the growing popularity of e-books, and I wondered if you all have any thoughts on this (being, at least some of you, e-book readers). So, for the e-book readers here, here is a poll! Ta-daaaah! Also feel free to leave your thoughts in the comments.

So, if you don't live in a cave, you've probably noticed that today, a bunch of websites, including Wikipedia, have "blacked out" in protest of "SOPA" and "PIPA," or are providing links to protest the bills (see Google), and they're being discussed all over the news and Twitter. Maybe you even know what these two bills are, and why they're a very bad idea.

But just in case you don't, here's a hopefully helpful little round-up of links and discussion of why these bills, very similar to each other and currently making their way through Congress, are important for every single one of us to know about, and why they should not be allowed to pass. Also: what you can do to help protest them.

What are SOPA and PIPA?

Look, a metric ton of people and entities have already summarized or explained this, so here are a couple of links to the sort-of short versions:

And here's my tiny, not-at-all-detailed-but-true summary of why these bills are bad news:

Although the purpose (preventing infringement of intellectual property) is admirable, SOPA and PIPA are overbroad, and have a huge potential for abuse or misapplication. This is both my opinion and the general consensus of informed people and entities who are protesting the legislation. If enacted, either bill could change everything we know about how the internet works today, and negatively affect a lot of online activities that have nothing to do with copyright and trademark, or that would be defensible under Fair Use, etc. and are not currently targeted. Either could also have a serious chilling effect on web creativity, entrepreneurship, and speech.

What's currently going on?

At this time, there has been huge opposition to the bills by internet users and internet companies and websites, among others. Examples include: blackouts by major sites such as Wikipedia, Reddit, Craigslist, Wordpress, etc., partial blackouts by other sites like Google, Etsy, LiveJournal, etc. (sites still available but featuring info and links on how to protest the bills to Congress), 97% and 96% opposed on the polls linked to both bills on the govtrack.us site, and relevant opposition hashtags trending on Twitter.

Primary supporters seem to be big entertainment companies, such as the MPAA (who spoke out against the blackouts as a publicity stunt, rather than the statement against government over-reaching that they are). Honestly, I haven't seen a ton of statements in support of the bills, but what has come through are from the big movie and music companies.

The White House has issued this statement recently, in which the Obama administration has indicated that he would veto the bill in its present form. This has sent legislators back to the drawing board to work on redrafting or amending the current bill in order to "reach a consensus."

This isn't the end of things, however - they are working on SOPA, which presumably will move forward soon, and PIPA is slated for a vote on January 24, with Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid rejecting requests for postponement and saying "this is an issue that is too important to delay."

I'd argue that it's also too important to rush through, Senator Reid.

Why you should care and what you can do:

One of the biggest problems with the current proposed legislation is that it's overbroad. I'm seeing a lot of folks saying, "Would Etsy shut down? Flickr? How would my podcast be affected? What would happen to YouTube? Will Wikipedia go? What about open-source sites? And on and on and on. Major sites like Wikipedia have immediate concerns about the broad effects of the potential law. Tiny players like someone with a personal blog have the same concerns. And here's the key: these people are the Internet. We are all the Internet. And we will all be affected if this legislation passes.

From the biggest informational or search sites, through the news and humor sites, through the big stores and quirky craft shops, through the discussion forums and social networks, to your own little blog and Twitterfeed, and much, much more, we, as a whole, make up the Internet. And so legislation that is meant to govern the internet has to consider and make clear the ways in which such legislation will affect us; all of us. And these bills, in all their vague glory, do not do that. This is why we must care about them, and protest them, and advocate better solutions.

I'm not suggesting legislation addressing the effect on every little website; but I'm suggesting, at the very least, clear guidelines and perhaps protections for websites, as opposed to just the attacks on infringement that are currently proposed. And I'm suggesting legislation that targets the mosquito instead of the entire forest it lives in. I'm an attorney, with an education and background that includes IP law, and I could not predict offhand all the myriad ways that these proposed laws might be applied with negative and unnecessary effects, or how Esty or your little blog, or numerous other things, might be affected. But I can see how the legislation could be misapplied or abused, and change the internet as a whole. And both of those things worry me. And they should worry you, too. If they do, one good way to express those concerns, and your reservations about the bills, is to call your representative in Congress. Or email. Or tweet at them. There are tons of ways to make your voice heard.

It's interesting to note that at a November House Judiciary Committee hearing, numerous observers noted that the set of speakers who testified regarding SOPA lacked technical expertise. Here's a choice quote: "the techno-ignorance of Congress was on full display. Member after member admitted that they really didn’t have any idea what impact SOPA’s regulatory provisions would have on the DNS, online security, or much of anything else." That is, well, just ridiculous, and is yet another reason to oppose the current bills.

That writer also makes a good point, which is, essentially, it's not enough to protest when you see a proposed law that is a bad idea (although that is one important act). If we don't want Congress fumbling around with things they apparently know little about, and making bad laws, people who are more informed or see the problems inherent in the proposed legislation need to get into the action, with public comments and proposals that would target the relevant issues without the negative concerns we have here. With raising specific concerns for Congress to look into. With asking questions and trying to ensure Congress is on the right track. With ensuring our concerns are represented well before the final draft of a bill. Because even if SOPA and PIPA are defeated, Congress is going to keep trying: 2008, 2010, 2011 into 2012, they've been trying to get things like this passed; and really, it's not inherently evil of them to do that. There's nothing wrong with protecting intellectual property, and to be against SOPA or PIPA is not to be for piracy. It's just to be for better solutions to it.

I realize that the status quo is such for a reason, and that people are not really motivated to do what is Congress's job, or what runs the risk of negatively impacting their current state of being - but maybe it's time for people who really care about how the Internet works and has benefitted our society to think of ways to improve IP protections online without infringing on everything else we value about it. Ways to do this include everything from thinking and talking about viable and fair solutions online, to participating in the public comment period that is available when proposed legistation is published in the Federal Register, to getting lobbyists to advocate for our concerns from start to finish, as this group is now raising money to do (feel free to donate!), to...whatever other brilliant ideas you have. I know you all have brilliant ideas, because after all - you're the Internet. Which is brilliant. I hope it stays that way.

Hello, hello, to anyone still out there. :P For a number of reasons (busy? stressed? BUSY) I haven't really had time to blog in awhile. HOWEVER...I might try harder in the new year? I do miss it, I just never seem to have the time. Um. MAYBE SOON?

In the meantime, here's a short little hello and random update about my life in case anyone caaaaarrrrrreeeessss:

- Christmas was fantastic; celebrating with the family is always good, and was extra-fun this year with my sister and BiL's 2.5 year old boy and 6 month old girl. Kids. Presents. SO CUTE. :D My sis reports that Nephew loves the turtle nightlight I got him (it shows constellations on the ceiling, in 3 colors that you can select) and Baby Niece loves the snuggly seahorse (it plays lullabies and its tummy lights up, aw) as well. Yay! I got some very cool things, like an iPod speaker and a Kindle and (HAHAHAHAAAA!) a Deadpool bank. Heeee. Did you all get anything fun?

- The location for the next North American Discworld Convention has been announced. It will be in 2013 in Baltimore. Woo! Local! Although I have "retired" from being involved in planning, I am looking forward to attending!! WHO ELSE IS GOING TO GO?

- I seem to have been seeing a number of movies recently. I got to go to the advance screening of Sherlock Holmes in December (it was SUPER); I was fairly unimpressed with Immortals (although the cinematography was pretty good, it just draaaaagged); and The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo was intense, good, and DISTURBING. I had 3 nightmares in a row the night after I saw it (!!). ...Anyone else see anything good recently?

- Ummmm...yeah, that may be all for now. Maybe I haven't blogged recently because I'm BORING. Heh.

The internet is a weird, wild place. One of the glorious things about it is the ease and immediacy with which we can communicate, share, create, sell, add and delete online content, and more.

This is also one of the most problematic things about it, when it comes to intellectual property law (And here's a discussion of some of the reasons why it's so problematic from the last time a friend had work infringed upon via the Internet). Today, yet again, a friend of mine had copyrighted work infringed upon via the Internet, and in this instance, not only was there infringement, but it was infringement for profit, and without acknowledgement. That's pretty much like stabbing a creator in the heart and then twisting the knife.

Teefury.com's image strongly resembles Francavilla's original art, in ways that go beyond a possible shared photo reference, and that would hinder an argument that Teefury's work was sufficiently transformative (i.e. created a new work) and thus defensible under fair use (which is, as I constantly remind people when I post about copyright, only a defense, not a right). As the linked ComicsAlliance article states, and as I can also see plainly, there are several points of commonality that I believe would lead to a finding for Francavilla if such a case were to go to court; the most telling being the distinctive design of the left (or Lovecraft's right) eye, which Francavilla originated. It's clear that the Teefury "artist" MUST have seen Francavilla's work, since such a detail is extremely original and not the sort of design element anyone drawing Lovecraft would immediately include.

But the problem here is not just the infringement; it is also in the nature of the way the Internet functions, and the way the Teefury.com website is set up, which could appear to limit the benefit for an artist of pursuing the infringement by the most common method of recourse, a cease & desist letter. Because Teefury.com only sells each tee-shirt for one day, by the time a traditional cease & desist-type letter demanding the art be removed was to be sent out and responded to (assuming a response), the tee-shirt would already have been taken down anyway as part of the course of ordinary business at Teefury; thus allowing the infringer to "get away with" the infringement for a day, while depriving the original artist of at the very least the satisfaction of knowing that they had successfully caused the infringing work to be removed by the infringer. It's a frustrating position for an artist to be in, to say the least; and it makes it easier for the website to get away with being a repeat offender, since an artist doing a cost/benefit analysis might assume the cost of taking action would outweigh the minor benefit of removal a few hours early, if at all.

What makes it more frustrating is the attitude of the infringer in this case (who, incidentally, makes a bald-faced claim to being the "artist" of the Lovecraft piece). This guy, who is actually one of the employees of Teefury (the "art director," as opposed to being a member of the public who submitted a work) has clearly expressed his blatant misunderstanding of U.S. copyright law and his disregard for the rights of artists, in a post entitled "STFU Comparison Police! Advice to Artists. His idiocy about the way copyright and fair use works would be laughable if it wasn't actually causing harm to artists.

But cause harm it does; not only in the infringement itself, but in the possible lost profits, and in the propagation of an attitude of irreverence towards copyrights and ownership amongst internet know-it-alls who think they're in the right when they are not, and encourage others to follow their lead.* (Though I'd love to see their reactions were someone to treat their works the same way and profit from them; I daresay there'd be some general about-facing and a quick hue and cry would be raised if the tables were turned).

That's why I would encourage artists to follow up on infringement anytime they possibly can; and, more importantly in cases such as this, to keep in mind that asking for an infringing work to be removed is not the only recourse an artist might have; in the instances where an infringer is making a profit, always remember that a copyright owner can demand an accounting of any profits, and a remittance of any profits derived from the work.

I also encourage people like the infringer over at Teefury to read up on U.S. copyright law, in hopes that they will realize they are, in fact, breaking the law, and it might just come back to haunt them.

*ETA: And, as J. Robert Deans of Twitter points out, there is also the harm of a day of lost work and income due to this issue distracting the artist from his current project.

I just got back from Dragon*Con a couple of days ago, and it was crazy awesome! Yes, I'm a convention co-founder and a con-runner and I've been to a fair few cons over the last 6-7 years in one capacity or another, but never one quite like this (since I haven't yet been able to make it to SDCC, which has some similarities). Dragon*Con spans 5 hotels and has a whole mess of specific fan tracks, not to mention panels with TV and movie stars along with the usual fun of comics folks, writing workshops, etc. It was also the first non-Discworld con I actually costumed for (all costumes I've worn before because I didn't have time to make anything new, but I settled on Black Canary, Seamstress, Interrupted, and The Absinthe Fairy and they worked out well). AND it turned out not only did I get to see and room with my Discworld roomie (and #1 Minion) Erica, but also laurelin_kit was there and roomed with us and is AWESOME, and several other Snarkers and LJers were there, too (one I'd met before and a few I hadn't) and were AWESOME as well. (And I finally got to meet doctoraicha!!! She is great! :D)

Anyway, despite the fact that I'm actually still (two months later!) recovering from NADWCon2011 (seriously; Chairing that con took more out of me than law school, I tell you what), I'm trying to get back to blogging a little about all the fun stuff now that things aren't *quite* so busy thanks to retirement from NADWCon organizing. So a Dragon*Con recap will be next on the list, but first, here's a bit about my adventures at Baltimore Comic Con, which I managed to get over to 3 weekends ago. It was a lot of fun. :)

In brief, things I did:

- I got to catch up with a lot of my comic-y friends, like Barry Kitson, John Tyler Christopher, Clayton Henry, Reilly Brown, Paul Tobin and Colleen Coover, Francesco and Lisa Francavilla, John K. Snyder III, Franco Aureliani, Jamie Cosley, and more, all of whom are super;

- I got to meet some new cool folks, like Charlie Adlard (stop making weird faces at the camera, CHARLIE), Ivan Brandon, Charlie Kochman, Michael Finn, and more;

- I got to chat with Stan Lee again (bless! He's awesome, not like anyone who knows who he is needs telling);

- I got to go to the Harvey Awards (and, oh yes, sit at Stan Lee's table, hahaha!) which, despite all the groans I heard about how loooong they were, I liked just fine (and the soup was excellent);

- I got to see all the pretty thingssssssss and wander around and just generally BE at a comic con again, which was nice because it'd been awhile. I love comic cons. They are good for my geeky soul.

Things I didn't do:

- See every person I meant to;

- Go to one single panel (I always MEAN to);

- Shop for stuff even though I meant to look around at t-shirts at least;

- Take enough pictures (I'm usually better about remembering to do that).

But I DID take these pictures HERE, and also picked up some neat art (pictured). Woo! So check that out!

...

Speaking of neat art, Jen (eldest sister extraordinaire) was in town the weekend before Dragon*Con, and saw a flyer for the new creator-owned comic artist Reilly Brown is doing with writer Kurt Christenson, Power Play. She loved the Gowanus Pete character design to the point where she made me pull up one of the sketches of Gowanus Pete online. Which reminded me I told Reilly at Baltimore Comic Con that I'd check out the preview comic (the actual comic starts coming out this fall), and so, voila, on lunch break today, I did. Here are my thoughts:

Info:

The preview comic, which you can get on ComiXology and download on their smartphone apps for free, introduces the characters and the concept for the coming storyline. It's written by Kurt Christenson and drawn by Reilly Brown. Here's the blurb:

Extreme sports just got an upgrade! No more skateboards, rollerblades or BMX bikes, when these superpowered kids take to the streets, there's no telling what they can and will do in this underground, full contact, no-holds barred sports league. From all across NYC they come to do battle, pitting their powers against one another in do-it-yourself style Olympics. They fight for fame, they fight for glory, they fight to be the the Power Play champion--and in the middle of all of this is Mac, a college student looking for direction and purpose in the big city. Who will be crowned King of the Five Boroughs? Power Play, the super-powered street games starts here!

The story:

I like the concept - it's fun, it's different, and it has the potential for good character development/interaction/conflict. The dialogue's snappy so far, and the description of Westside Flame actually made me laugh out loud. In the preview itself, we get what seems like two snippets of different but related storylines; a glimpse at the sports/competition part of the story, and a glimpse at the personal/character development part of the story (focused on Mac), both of which look good. The presentation is a little disjointed (going from action to introspection with little transition is a bit jarring), but I give that a pass because it's a preview comic, and I don't think the intention was to put up a complex, integrated story at this point. Presumably in the main comic we'll get a more cohesive story, and I'm looking forward to it. I'd also love to see more background on the league, which I'm sure will come up along the way.

The art:

I love the art, but then, that's not surprising. Reilly's one of my favorite comic book artists; I like the dynamic way he draws characters and action, and also a lot of the facial expressions. I'm enjoying the character designs so far; I have to admit I already have a straight-girl-crush on the Ice Queen character (I can't help it, she's purrrty. And also wearing my favorite color of blue, with SNOWFLAKES. I love snowflakes. I even have tights with snowflakes on them. (See also: butterflies. :D). And I, also, am intrigued by Gowanus Pete (and want to see what else they turn Mac into). Reilly does a great job with the different character designs, matching the style to the personality (as it is so far) and/or drawing a style that exudes the corresponding personality; and I like the idea of the characters resembling the areas of the city they come from. I definitely want to see more.

The digital medium:

This is the kind of thing I geek out about, because it excites me to see the potential of the medium being explored to enhance the reading experience. Power Play is, hands down, the best use of the digital medium for comics that I've seen to date, and this is only the preview. In places it reminds me a bit of the Watchmen stop-animation (or whatever it's called) video comics they did around the time of the movie, only I never had the patience to watch all of those, since I'd read the book a million times already and they moved too slowly from one frame to the next. But having the ability to read at one's own pace, and still get the animation-like effects now and again, is fantastic. Being able to see one or two panels at a time, zoomed in/close up, is great. I love the panning from one part of a panel to another and the fading from full color to monochrome for effect. Having the direction of the screen shifts follow the action is cool; or shifting to follow the narrative/captions. Also I like how he has the characters in similar poses in a couple of frames, but shifting from one frame to the next gives you the action of a head turn or tilt like in animation.

This is truly the future of how digital comics should be read. I definitely wish I had an iPad so I could experience it in a bigger window, but with only a smartphone (and especially given my vision issues) this is hands-down the best way to see digital comics on a hand-held device. For comparison, I downloaded DC Comics New 52 #1 preview, which was free, and tried reading it on my Droid 2. Now, I know on a computer the usual format is fine; but on a smartphone? It's fairly unreadable. All the zooming in and panning around necessary just to see one page is a total pain, and not something I have the patience (or eyesight) for. The Power Play layout is infinitely better.

I do wonder how easy it would be to translate the comic, as designed first and foremost for digital, to a print version; I know Reilly mentioned they are keeping that option in mind, but would be curious to know more about how much would need to be changed for print, and how much Reilly thinks about that when he's designing layout. (Gee, maybe I should ask him, duh.) My main thought being, naturally, how hard it would be for all writers/artists to start shifting their thinking towards designing simultaneously for both. I'm not advocating that, necessarily; I LOVE print books and don't want them to go away; but I do wonder.

Overall:

The preview is engaging, the art is great, and the digital format is a joy to read. I'm so getting this when it comes out.

...

Speaking of comics, GUESS WHAT CAME OUT TODAY? My latest article and comic over at ReelzChannel.com. They blogged it with a link to the article/comic. wHEE! :D

Please to go read ze comic, kind friends? And to go retweet and repost and comment if you like it? The more you do these things, the more I get to WRITE COMICS, which I do so love to do. :)

And if anyone's in the mood to flip through the others I've done (with artist Marc Vuletich) so far, they're all HERE. You should at least check out this one, since it's the precursor to today's comic. :)

...

Aaaaand that's enough advertising of my own things. Now I shall advertise for others, namely, Made of Fail. My favorite podcast is still going strong, and did some fun episodes recently, on Green Lantern and the DC reboot; Harry Potter 7; and more. You should really go listen if you haven't; because it's FUN (and makes me laugh out loud on the Metro, dammit!). Also, they're doing an open call for a couple of geeky singles to go on the show for geek-relationship and dating discussion. If you're an intrepid geek in need of dating advice, go volunteer!

...

And in more geek things, some very exciting news about Sir Terry Pratchett and the 39th novel of Discworld, Snuff:

Sir Terry will be appearing in JUST THREE cities in the United States this October for the launch of Snuff!! Make sure you go see him if you can!

Despite my being super-busy working during NADWCon, I still had a lot of fun; and one thing I had fun with (both before, in putting things together, and at the con itself) was the costuming. Now, I'm not a "costumer," in the sense of the amazing people I know who sit down and make a whole intricate Victorian walking suit out of bolts of cloth, ingenuity, and a lot of hard work (and those people are out there. There are lots more than you'd think, and they're awesome!). I'm more of a costumer in the sense of "buy a bunch of stuff you think will work together, make a few little things you can't buy, beg and borrow some help from others if needed, and put it all together in hopes it works out." But happily, often it does work out, and I was pretty pleased with how my costumes came together for NADWCon this year. Of course, I did have a fair bit of help in some of these, because due to taking over as Chair in June I suddenly had a lot less time than I'd intended to finish things up. So BIG PROPS must go to everyone who helped me, and particularly the Seamstresses' Guild. :)

The nicest thing about the costumes is that a lot of people at the con wanted to take pictures of them, and told me they really liked them (and one person even gave me a Hall Costume Token! Whee! (Yes, I know some people got many Hall Costume Tokens - but getting even one pleased me)). And that a lot of people liked them so much that they really wanted to know where I got X or Y bit of each outfit. THEREFORE!! I bring unto you all a costuming post, to tell folks where I found all the bits and pieces of my costumes, and also to maybe illustrate to others out there like me that you, too, can put a costume together without a million hours and a needle. :)

I emailed this out to the NADWCon2011 Committee yesterday, and then realized that really, I should post it up publicly so everyone can see just a few of the things the hardworking committee folks did for this con. So, here, in its entirety for all to see, is a message from me to the NADWCon2011 Committee.

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Hello, wonderful and hardworking NADWCon2011 Committee!

I hope that people are home now, and getting in a bit of rest and recovery! I know that it take a while to regain one's equilibrium after a con, not to mention one's sanity and health - so please, all, make sure you are getting plenty of rest and taking care of yourselves! You deserve it!!

I wanted to say a really, truly heartfelt and giant THANK YOU to everyone on this list (and any committee members I may have inadvertently left off the list - I think I have everyone's emails on here, but if I've missed someone, please forward this along to them as well!) for all of your hard work, commitment, enthusiasm, good humor, extreme dedication, and more in the face of putting on a giant, complex event like a Discworld Con. Truly you were all amazing, and did a fantastic job of working together to run the con! I hope to see you all again at future Discworld Cons, and that you feel free to keep in touch! And now, please indulge me while I go into personal thanks and recognition for a bit.

In no particular order at all (other than the order in which my Gmail address book collated your names) because all of you are wonderful:

Missy: Thank you so much for your incredible work organizing and decorating and running the Seamstresses' Guild Parties, which were amazing and magical and fun; and for coordinating your team to help run them with such efficiency and panache. What a treat to have such a place to go each night! And thank you for jumping in to help co-run the Auction, which raised a lot of money for great causes. And for acquiring and safeguarding my wings for me, even in the face of your cat's clear desire to rip them to shreds!

Viv: You are my Queen of Communications, and I am glad to have had you to help us Get the Word Out about everything, both before and during the con. No matter what new idea or request I threw at you, you came up with a way to get it done and stay on top of things, so thank you so much for that! And for becoming a clearinghouse for all packages Discworldian. And for the Neil Gaiman newsletter headline, which makes me laugh every time I see it. :P *luffs you* *and your cute kid*

Art Ray: :) You did superb work on the Program Book, the Pocket Program, and all the art and ambience we desired from you; and a great job of getting the posters done, and working with us to get the plushies and t-shirts rolling. Your art on the buttons and more was excellently fun! Thanks for your patience and good cheer, and for the falling tortoises sign, which never failed to make me smile. And for the comic book, which I shall definitely read.

Greg: Hilariously, we got to meet for all of 5 minutes during this con, since we were both so busy. But from the short amount of time I did get to spend in the Dealers Room, I could see that it had been well-organized and was being well-looked after; so thank you for that, and for being so efficient that I wasn't even needed to help! :) I hope to meet you again at another con where we might actually have a chance to chat!

Fae: You ran a wonderful Costumers Dungeon; and though I personally was not there much, my costumes certainly were! I know Erica made use of the room several times over the course of the weekend while helping me with all of my myriad costume things, and I am sure she was not the only one who was grateful for a place to go for steamers and hot glue guns and other costumey things. Thanks for being there for people in need of a few stitches or more desperate costume help!

John K: Being At-Con Programming Director is no easy thing, but you almost made it look like it was! Excellent job of keeping things clicking along and working out glitches on the fly, and doing it all with a great sense of humor and a level head. It was a pleasure solving little problems with you and making them disappear like they'd never even been. And thanks for not playing your banjo at me. *ducks* Just kidding! Actually I'd really like to hear your work. Send me links!!

Henry: Terry and all attending were very pleased with the well-run and fun Maskerade, and when Terry says he's pleased, it truly means you've done a fantastic job! I know everyone involved had fun. Thanks for your hard work and great success in all of that, and for working out with us how to ensure everyone was as safe as possible as they participated.

Jon L: What can I say? Thanks for being everywhere at once and sometimes in two places at once at the con, and making sure that things got where they needed to be, :) and for all of your hard work EVERYwhere. I know we hit a number of snags from start to finish on this con, but you stuck with it and saw it through and kept on working for the good of the con no matter what, and that is no small thing. It was a long journey, but one with a successful con at the end. Hurrah!

Erin: Thank you for stepping in and making the art show into something wonderful and well-run in a relatively short period of time! I wish I had had more time to look around the show, but I heard great reports and really appreciate all of the work you did, both on that and as a program participant. And I loved your tiny steampunk hat. :) P.S. Please don't faint if you see Neil Gaiman again. Or at least be standing near a couch when you do. Hee.

Matthew G: Thanks for setting up/running the movie room, and for your work as part of the Seamstresses' Guild Party team! AND for making an excellent glass of absinthe!! I am glad things worked out with Ian Sharples being able to introduce the Mob movies, and am sure lots of attendees were happy to have a place to take a load off, relax, and watch a movie now and again.

Jon M: My right hand co-guest liaison man! It was excellent working with you all weekend, and I really appreciate your stepping in to be there whenever I had to take more time away from the guests than originally expected due to Chairing the con (or due to getting a costume on!). Thanks for all of your work on the ground gathering things for the gift baskets and setting those up, and chaperoning guests on outings, and getting together some reliable local folks to Guest Liaise with us. Please send them my thanks as well, because they were awesome! (And/or send me along their email addresses). I'm really glad to have met you and worked with you to take care of our guests! And thanks for the photos!

z!: Hooray, tech man! :) Thanks for your expertise in the realms of tech and staging, and for going through the trouble of pricing out options for us (the budget thanks you too) and ensuring that everything *worked* during the weekend! I was really glad to have someone who I knew I could rely on to know what was going on and to ensure that things that were supposed to have tech did, and to be able to fix any snags that came up. And thank you for your co-work on the Charity Auction as well! And for having a good sense of humor, and very easily describable hair, so that I could send people who needed tech help your way with a simple, "the guy with the half purplish-blue hair can totally help you!" :)

Nelly: I don't think I ever saw you doing anything other than working and running errands for ops, etc. Thanks for helping with ops and never stopping to take a breath. You can relax a bit now. :) (And sorry I called on you to come find me somewhere random at least twice and then realized when you arrived that I didn't need help. Heh.)

Katie: I'm sorry you couldn't make it to the con, but thanks for working on the registration needs pre-con, and making sure everything was in good order when Jeff needed to take over! I appreciate your pre-con work and hope you can make it another time!

Barry: It's nice to have people you know you can 100% rely on to take care of their responsibilities AND take the initiative when they see something else that needs doing, and you are always one of those people in my book! Thanks for stepping in last-minute-ish to do the at-con treasurer job, which was a lot of work to take on in the 11th hour, and for organizing our equipment and supplies list and putting in orders so we'd have what we needed at the con. You're awesome! See you at the next WSFA meeting (no, really! I'll be there this time!) :)

Denise: Thanks for your good advice, sharp eye towards potential issues, and excellent work in coordinating and organizing/gridding the program pre-con, which I know from experience is a major, major task; and for working with both Missy on Seamstress Parties, and John K at the con, to ensure that the parties and the programming had the support they needed from you (among the many other things I saw you helping with at-con!). I'm glad you were able to make it to the con after all, and very grateful for all of your hard work! *waves bloomers* Here's to you, my fellow Dame!

Dave L: I know running a ConSuite was a new experience for you, and that it was a process figuring out how to best approach it, but thanks for working with me and Margie through several iterations of the ConSuite Plan to ensure that we'd be offering what attendees and volunteers needed and wanted during the con, and for adjusting plans on the fly to meet people's expectations. And thanks for your excellent setup in the VIP Lounge when we were hosting Neil, and for making sure I ate something on Sunday, even if it was very mean of you to steal my wings until I ate. :P I will keep a sharper eye on them next time!

Sarah: Thanks for your excellent assistance of John K and programming and with signs and all those little things that always need doing at the last minute, and in general in ConOps etc.,; as well as in helping me with my costuming! The Ikebana stuff you got for me was great and really made the costume! Big thanks!

Michelle: Many thanks for conscientiously dealing with/handing out/selling ridiculously large amounts of merchandise (the bags of plushies were bigger than you!) and managing your volunteers so well as they tried to sell sell sell for our con! :) Every time I saw you you were super-busy, and I appreciate the time and attention you gave to managing this area, which always looked like it was being handled very smoothly..

Margie: My right-and-left-hand woman! Thanks so much for agreeing to Vice Chair in the last month, and for working with me to take point on certain areas so that I could attend to others and we could together ensure that everything that needed oversight received it. I can't tell you how much I appreciate your level head, sharp eye for detail, and can-do attitude, as well as your unwavering good spirits and abilities to help or come up with solutions to issues that needed to be solved as the con approached. And on top of all of that, you managed a huge group of volunteers, scheduled them, oversaw them and a numerous other things during the con, and, and, and...*whew* :) I wish you all the best as the new Chair of the Chelos, and am looking forward with anticipation to NADWon2013. *big hugs*

David B: David, David, David! I am so very glad that you came forward to run Ops, again at a time when the con was approaching like a runaway train and we desperately needed a steady and experienced person to help with this key position. Ops is a huge and complex area, and you did such a stellar job managing it that if I didn't know better I'd have thought it was a piece of cake! Well done, you! So many hugs and thanks. And thanks also for putting up with my random leaving-of-things-in-Ops, and my occasional silliness on the radios. :)

Game Ray: While I did not get a ton of time to stop in the Game Room, the couple of times I checked in I could see that at least 3 or more tables were full of people having fun! Goal reached! Achievement unlocked! :) And my friend Kevin reported that his GURPS game went great, as well. Thanks for providing a nice relaxed area for gamers to have some fun, and for maintaining it all weekend long.

Jeff: Our impressively tall Registration man! In a top hat! Which made you super-easy to find whenever I had a registration question. :) Thank you so much for coming in at the 11.5th hour to take over and run registration so efficiently, and for doing absolutely every single thing I asked of you in record time. From ensuring all was ready for/in the bags and envelopes beforehand, to bringing me Guest member bags in person when I needed them, I truly appreciate everything you did and the ease with which you did it. You're a star! (And high-five to Missy for roping...er...persuading Jeff into this role.)

Matt C: Thanks for taking over the hotel communications as the con approached and at the con, and ensuring that all went smoothly there, as well as for helping with non-hotel things, as I know you were running errands and helping Ops a lot as well (I heard you on that-there radio!). And thanks for keeping Terry good company at the banquet. :)

Marilyn: Much appreciation for your aid to Denise and John K on the programming pre-and at-con, and for your participating in the programming by doing things like the jewelry workshop (I so want some of those adorable beads!). Denise told me many a time how helpful your spreadsheet and scheduling skills were in getting the program done, and it's truly appreciated, as were your abilities to easily shuffle programming things around as needed as the con got closer. Many thanks!

Bryan S: Thanks for managing our message board, and for your help in Ops at the con - I know you were busily working away in there almost any time I came through, and provided me with help a number of times, too! Much appreciation for your help in one of the busiest areas of the con.

Brandon: Excellent work in ensuring that Our Con Was Secure. :) Though Discworld fans are very nice people, big crowds are still big crowds, and we definitely needed people to oversee keeping areas clear and traffic moving, ensuring programs that needed security guidance had it, etc. Thanks for being in charge of all of that!

Pat: My Discworld Hero! Thanks for being super-you, Pat, and for Mastering the hell out of our Ceremonies! No, seriously though - you are a stellar MC and front-man and I am so glad we can always call on you for these things. And thank you for the little ducky covered in hearts. He is now the center of my shrine to Ordpor. :P See you at the UK Con (I hope)!

And...big props to anyone I've inadvertently left off the list, and to all of y'alls staff and volunteers. Please convey my thanks to them if you haven't yet!

EVERYONE, GIVE YOURSELF A BIG ROUND OF APPLAUSE!!

If you can't tell already, I truly feel it's been a privilege to work with each and every one of you, and that you all worked your butts off to make this thing great.

And now, as some of you may have already seen, it saddens me slightly to say (even though it's the best choice for me) that after six years of work on the NADWCons, I have decided to take a hiatus from convention organizing, due to health considerations and other obligations. There are many others eager to take on leadership roles for future NADWCons, and that is a very good thing. :) If you are interested in my further thoughts on this, I have posted about it here:

I am by no means stepping back from the Discworld fandom, which I do love dearly; but am instead looking forward with great anticipation to attending the next NADWCon and getting to see it from "the other side." I hope I will also get to see you all there.

Until then, please don't hesitate to stay in touch!

All my best,

:) Emily

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And also, here is a link to my con photos (and House on the Rock): NADWCon2011

"The time has come," the Chair then said, "To talk of future plans: Of guests--events--and costumed folk--Of Discworld Cons--and fans--And why the Chair is always knurd(!)--And who might run programs."

Well, NADWCon2011 has now come to a close, and all of us are (hopefully) home and recovering from all of the excitement and fun! I hope that everyone who attended the con had as great a time as I did, and from all reports I've heard, that seems to be the case! But then, what else could be expected after another successful Discworld convention? Amazing guests were featured; exciting programs, workshops, and games were enacted; old friends were reunited; new friends were made; inventive adventures were had; fascinating things were learned and discussed; costumes were admired; drinks were consumed; lively and hilarious conversations filled the air; and all manner of silliness was enacted in the name of Discworld -and that’s just as it should be!

It's hard to believe it's been six years now since I first attended a Terry Pratchett book signing and Q & A in Arlington, VA, and innocently asked Terry whether he'd come to a North American Discworld Convention if we made one happen. It's even more hard to believe, sometimes, that he said: "Absolutely!" and that two fantastic, fun-filled conventions have now taken place! But the memories, the photos, and the uniquely Discworld Convention souvenirs (Petite Quirmignon Cow! Petite Quirmignon Cow!) remind me that this is, indeed, the case.

As a co-founder of The North American Discworld Convention; as Vice Chair, Webmaster, Online Publicity Coordinator, Pre-Con Programming Coordinator, and at-con Guest Liaison for NADWCon2009; as Chair of The NADWCon Guild of Chelonavigators convention steering committee; and as Guest Liaison Co-Coordinator and Convention Advisor, and later Chair of NADWCon2011, it's been a fantastic and sometimes slightly terrifying adventure -and one that I am very proud to have been a part of. It's been a privilege to work with Terry, our other amazing guests, and all of the wonderful and talented people who have been a part of making each of the NADWCon events happen, and to witness such amazing contributions, dedication, and hard work from the Honored Guests, convention committees, staff, program participants, and volunteers. I am honored by the confidence that was placed in me and the other fans by Sir Terry and all who attended the conventions, throughout the process of putting these events on in proper Discworld style; and touched by the support and goodwill that has been extended towards myself and the rest of the convention organizers over the years. I am also very honored to have received such a high public accolade as that of being made a Dame of Discworld, and will try to do the title proud (and only show off my bloomers on very special occasions!).

It probably does not need to be said, but I shall say anyway, that I love the Discworld, Sir Terry, the convention guests, the conventions, and the fans, both those who have worked hard to help make these conventions happen, and those who have come to attend and enjoy. The fictional world Terry has created, and the very real community that has been formed around it, are entities unlike any other, and are a very important part of my life.

However, there sometimes comes a time when one must shift the focus of one’s attention and time, and I feel that after six years of volunteering my time to work on the NADWCons, I must now take a hiatus from convention organizing, and focus more intensely on my health (post eye-surgeries), and my career and other commitments. I truly wish there was time for me to do everything, but unfortunately my practical side knows that is not the case.

I also know that there are many fans eager to see another NADWCon in 2013, and willing to work to make it happen, to which I say: Hurrah! I will be very glad to see the NADWCon tradition being continued, and will do my best to pass along any knowledge or wisdom (haha!) that I might have gained through my work on the 2009 and 2011 cons and on the Steering Committee. I must admit that I am quite looking forward to the prospect of attending future NADWCons, and finally having the chance to see and enjoy them from “the other side.” If there is to be another NADWCon, I certainly plan to be there (probably in costume!) and look forward to seeing all of my Discworld friends again both at that and at other Discworld events!

And now, all that remains is for me to say a gigantic thank you and congratulations to everyone who has been or will be involved in the NADWCons! And to Sir Terry Pratchett, without whom Roundworld just would not be the same.

Much love and many hugs to Sir Terry, and to all who love Discworld as much as I do.

Guys, I love the idea that anyone can comment here, even if they are not yet my LJ-friends, but I can't deal with the ridiculous amounts of spam comments anymore (they just get worse and worse! What is UP, LJ? Fix this!). Therefore, I've changed my settings to only allow comments from friends. Sorry!*

You ever have one of those times when you'd really, really love to take some time and chronicle what's going on, but if you take literally five minutes out of your day to do so, you feel like the entire world will fall on you? Yeah, that's how I feel right now.

So in brief:

- My sister is due to have her baby in TWO DAYS!!!!! (It's going to be a girrrrrrl.) *excited* So I will be going to watch Little Nephew while that happens.

- Neil Gaiman is coming to the National Press Club in FOUR DAYS and I will be introducing him for the event, which sold out to the tune of 550 people in 3 days, and over 200 pre-sold books, and so will bring in some welcome funds for our library for working journalists (woo!). Also it will be a blast. Whee!

- I leave for my two week trip that eventually lands me in Madison, WI for The North American Discworld Convention 2011 in FIVE DAYS. I am in Panic At The Disco mode, because not only do I personally have a lot to do before I go (see: sister-nephew-watching and baby; Neil Gaiman event; laundry and cleaning and getting the hairs of my precious head trimmed nicely, etc.; paaaaacking) but also as of about 1.5 weeks ago I took over as Chair of the Con, and so therefore am swamped with about 1,000,003 things to do every second. *tear*

- I don't even know what else is going on, as my whole head is full of babies and Press Club events and THE CON. THE CON THE CON THE CON THE CON CAN'T SLEEP CON WILL EAT ME THE CON THE CON THESNDFNSKDJFHNKEJRWAAKSDJ!!!!!!!

++ OUT OF CHEESE ERROR. REBOOT UNIVERSE. ++

Oh, sorry about that. Brain meltdown/overload.

So anyway, I'd better get back to work, but since I would like to leave you with something fun, here, have these links:

Now that the excitement of voting for me in the Neil Gaiman Audio Contest is over (thank you! still waiting for the final winner!!), I'd like to ask people to turn their attention to another thing they can help with - donating time, money, items, or even just spreading the word to help with relief efforts in the South after the devastation caused by the approximately 178 tornadoes that ripped through Birmingham, Tuscaloosa, and other Southern areas recently. The damage is immense, and so much is needed in the areas that were hit.

My friend cleolinda, who fortunately was not hit by the storms directly, but lives really close to areas that were, has done an excellent job of providing news, links, photos, videos, and most importantly, ways to help on her journal. So I am going to direct people over there for more information on all of those things. There are ways to donate money to the Red Cross, ways to buy or donate auction items for fandom and literary fundraisers, and more.

Please go and read these entries, and then if you can manage to help in some manner, please do. Our friends in the South need us.

HOORAY!! I ended up as #14! Thanks to everyone who voted!! :D [ETA: Actually in the final vote I ended up as #11!]

Now the Top 20 go to Neil Gaiman and 2 judges from HarperCollins, and one is chosen to win the Final Prize. I may or may not win, but I am sooo glad I have the chance to be considered, no matter what happens. :)

Hey everyone!! Today is the LAST DAY of voting for the Neil Gaiman Audio Contest, and I really need your help to stay in the Top 20 until the contest closes at 5pm EST!! I'm in 17th place right now, but faaallllliiiinngggg, so I need lots of votes to stay in the game until 5! It takes literally one minute to vote.